Corporation Tax Specialist, HM Revenue & Customs, Edinburgh, £51, 561 + pension

Summary

HMRC is the UK’s tax, payments and customs authority, and we have a vital purpose: we collect the money that pays for public services and help families and individuals with targeted financial support.

We have an exciting opportunity to join the Large Business (LB) directorate within HMRC. The Corporation Tax Specialist (CTS) role involves working on high-profile risk assessment and compliance work on some of the UK’s biggest multinational companies, as well as contributing to policy and helping develop new ways of identifying tax risks in advance and working with customers to avoid these.

LB is responsible for over 2,000 of the largest businesses that pay a significant proportion of the total business taxes and duties that HMRC collects. Each business has a Customer Compliance Manager (CCM) who is responsible for owning the overall relationship with the customer and all aspects of the customer’s tax affairs. Within this structure, this role is customer facing with significant emphasis on customer compliance, working as a member of one or more teams.

Working with highly sophisticated, potentially sensitive tax affairs of major UK and international businesses, concentrating mainly on issues with large amounts of tax at risk or requiring a detailed understanding and application of theoretical principles of taxation legislation.

Activity is prioritised by a risk-based approach but also extends to relationship management, working with in-house tax teams as well as the Big 6 Accountancy firms; and requires an inherent understanding of the commercial approach LB take.

Job description

You will have a key role in working with team members and colleagues to improve capability to achieve successful delivery of business performance as changes occur, playing a big part in our efforts to close the tax gap, ensuring vital public services are funded. What’s more, you’ll be recognised as a senior leader, with scope to help shape our strategic direction.

This is a highly specialised role where you will be encouraged to provide key technical input in the risk identification and risk working of LB customers.

You will also be encouraged to tackle wider portfolio roles, both technical and non-technical, and assist with capturing and sharing knowledge gained from technical reviews and enquiry work to help develop colleagues.

Responsibilities

• Take the lead in interpreting data in conjunction with examining returns, accounts, computations and other documents to understand and identify potential risk.
• Working alongside CCMs, share and discuss risk with LB customers.
• Understand the commercial factors influencing a business's tax compliance and build customer focus into projects and compliance checks undertaken.
• Carry out quality compliance checks, establishing facts using an investigative approach and statutory powers, making timely use of information to maintain progress and reaching resolution with HMRC’s published settlement strategy.
• Respond to customer queries including non-statutory clearance requests, sharing good practice and information as appropriate.

Essential Criteria:

• Experience of working with businesses on their corporation tax affairs, along with suitable relevant qualifications (listed).
• Practical insight into how large businesses identify and address commercial and tax risks when preparing their accounts and tax computations.
• Suitable relevant qualifications or experience operating at a senior level in a Corporation Tax compliance environment.
• Proven leadership in a technical environment and play a key role in developing others.

Qualifications

You should hold one of the following qualifications:

• Chartered Institute of Tax (CTA) or Advanced Diploma in International Tax (ADIT);
• HMRC’s TSP or predecessor qualification (TPDP, ITS2, CPT, FT2);
• Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies membership qualification (such as ICAEW, ICAS, CAI, ACCA, CIPFA, CIMA) or overseas equivalent;
• Postgraduate legal qualification.
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

CT skills to be assessed in the form of a presentation

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension